The Times Magazine 27as much a psychological blow as a strategic
one, Putin too may have an eye to symbolism.
If it comes down to it, Kryvyi Rih residents
are prepared to fight Russians in the streets
like the beguny. “We have a self-organised
defence that is ready to fight the enemy and
burn them in the streets,” says Vilkul.
Founded as a village by Zaporozhian
Cossacks in the 17th century, Kryvyi Rih
has a history of protecting itself from
oppressive Russian rulers. The Cossacks
governed the region democratically with a
constitution, civil rights, a parliament and
elected army officers. This was dismantled
by neighbouring Catherine the Great, who
eventually co-opted the Cossacks into the
Russo tradition. Ironically, the Cossacks went
on to be devout defenders of the Russian
crown, fighting in vain against the Bolshevik
forces during the 1917 revolution.
This complex history – who defines it
and who acts as its righteous protector – is
at the very heart of Putin’s war. Kryvyi Rih
is a striking example of how Ukrainians are
digging in to make sure he ends up on the
wrong side of history.
In the city centre, a towering column
commemorates the Soviet Union’s proudest
achievement: the defeat of Nazi Germany. The
moment Putin’s tanks rolled into the nation,
locals scaled the monument and placed a
Ukrainian flag in the hand of the bronzed
soldier standing atop it.
“This is a big f*** you to Putin,” says
Eduard Danilchenko, pointing upward. He
is a soldier in the TDF. His family fought
against Hitler’s armies. The former chef
scoffs at the idea Putin’s armies have come to
liberate Russian-speakers such as himself from
supposed Ukrainian Nazis. Ironically, Putin’s
invasion has only fortified Ukrainian identity
in the traditionally Russian-speaking city.
Those who were once ambivalent have taken
up the cause of Ukrainian independence and
rallied to their president.
I meet Tanya in an empty car park. With
Vilkul telling me Russian-speaking towns
such as his will soon switch to Ukrainian
completely, she simply can’t understand
whom Putin has come to protect. “Ukrainian-
speaking, Russian-speaking, we are all Kryvyi
Rih people. We love one another. This is
madness,” she says.
In central Kryvyi Rih, we enter a concrete
bunker that I’m told was formerly a nuclear
warhead silo. Members of the TDF spent
days excavating the dilapidated old site, which
most recently functioned as a hospital surgery,
so it can be used to shelter locals during
bombing raids.
“Welcome to Ukraine,” grins Kucher as we
walk inside the vast concrete echo chamber
that once held bombs capable of annihilating
humanity. The facility acutely demonstratesthe current stakes as well as Ukraine’s
complicated history of dashed hopes and
broken promises. In the 1994 Budapest
Agreement, signed by Bill Clinton, Boris
Yeltsin and John Major, Ukraine gave up its
vast nuclear arsenal – stored in bunkers such
as this – in exchange for guarantees of its
territorial sovereignty. The failure to enforce
this agreement when Putin annexed Crimea
in 2014 still rankles.
In another part of the city, Gayana
Arakalyan, an Armenian-Ukraininan, takes me
on a tour of a Second World War-era bomb
shelter. She is a widow and says her 18-year-old
son has been inspired by Zelensky’s call to
defend Ukraine. Standing in front of a diesel
lamp, Arakalyan speaks of death all around her.
“My son is so inspired by Vova’s [Zelensky’s]
leadership. He will fight, and we are confident
in the victory. But without him I will be alone.”
Surveying battle preparations as we tour
the city, Kucher says this is a key moment
for Ukraine. “Zelensky will take the lessons
he learnt in this town and apply them to the
war,” he says.
In a little under 100 days, Zelensky has
transformed his presidency and his nation’s
fortunes. “He was put in a situation where he
had no choice but to become a leader,” says
Popovich. Even critics and former rivals
concede that the times have suited Zelensky.
Vilkul, who was deputy prime minister in
the discredited pro-Russian Yanukovych
government and a long-term Zelensky
opponent, now endorses the “courageous”
fighting spirit of his president.
“Zelensky will go down in history as a great
president of a great nation,” says Vilkul.
Juliy Morozov is a community activist
who belongs to the Power of the People party,a rival to Zelensky’s Servant of the People.
He and his friends used their own money
to set up a community centre that provides
young locals with an opportunity to express
themselves. Inside is a music studio that
Morozov says has helped launch the career
of several Ukrainian bands and stars.
“I believe God has put Zelensky into
this moment. The hunger that a town like
Kryvyi Rih gives you to get out, and the
unique skills he has acquired, mean he is the
man to lead Ukraine during this difficult
period,” says Morozov.
A Russian-speaking Jew whose great-
grandparents were murdered in Hitler’s
camps, Zelensky doesn’t just show Putin’s
claims of “denazifying” Ukraine to be
a nonsense. A mixed background of
cosmopolitan law graduate and entertainer
raised in the Russian-speaking Ukrainian
rust belt makes him a unique blend of old
and new, east and west.
“The president is an avatar of all the things
that Ukraine has always needed. He is a
success thanks to the qualities of Kryvyi Rih,”
Popovich says.
As spring blossoms across Ukraine, sirens
still wail in the city and Russian forces are
nearby. In February, ArcelorMittal’s mining
operations ceased and the plant shut down
all four of its blast furnaces for safety. But
gradually industry is coming back to life.
On April 9, one of the furnaces resumed
operation, although workers say it would
be too risky to put all the facilities back into
production in case of shelling. And sales
remain a problem for the steel giant – 85 per
cent of the plant’s output is exported by ship
and the Black Sea is blockaded by the Russian
fleet. ArcelorMittal’s steel workers aren’t only
pulling shifts at the factory; nearly 2,000 have
joined the armed forces. Meanwhile some
100,000 evacuees fleeing combat in the east
and south have passed through the city since
the war began. An estimated 50,000 have
settled there.
For now Zelensky’s relentless energy is
continuing to crush Putin’s misinformation
machine and Ukrainian resolve remains
strong. In the early days of his presidency,
it’s not something that one man who knows
him would have predicted. Back then,
Zelensky’s schtick didn’t sit well with many
Ukrainians, including the old Zelensky family
dentist. Over coffee, Dr Kryzhov raised
his concerns with Rymma Zelensky that
perhaps Vova would be better off sticking
to entertaining the masses. But having raised
her son, she never doubted the man from
Kryvyi Rih would become the president
Ukraine desperately needs.
“You don’t know him yet – he has such a
strong character,” she told the doctor. “You
just wait and see.” nJUST AFTER BECOMING
PRESIDENT, HE RETURNED
IN SECRET TO VISIT HIS
MENTOR’S GRAVE
Casting his ballot at the election, March 2019GENYA SAVILOV/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES. ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN FINANCIAL REVIEW